* U.S. firms press Russia on rule of law, resource caps
* Russian steel, coal barons complain about U.S. regs
* Obama says trade figures very low
* New govt commission may help trade, investment
By Simon Shuster and Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW, July 7 (Reuters) - Russian and U.S. businessmen traded accusations of protectionism on Tuesday during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Moscow, saying they were counting on renewed dialogue to revitalise trade and investment.
Russian steel and coal barons complained about new U.S. regulations, which they said were hurting their U.S. factories and leading to job cuts. In turn, U.S. executives pressed Russia on its rule of law and the tight grip it keeps on its resources.
Russia has a trade turnover of just $36 billion with the United States and -- as President Obama described it -- the trade volume is virtually unchanged since the Cold War at only one percent of U.S. trade with the world, on par with U.S. trade with Taiwan.
"The level of cooperation is shamefully low. We should be ashamed of the size of mutual investments," said Russian oil and metals magnate Viktor Vekselberg.
Obama said in order to increase trade: "...we have to promote transparency, accountability and rule of law..
Klaus Kleinfeld, chief of Alcoa, who addressed the audience of some 300 businessmen before Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev joined them, said the rule of law was crucial to successful business relationships.
"One thing -- and I would call that the big white elephant in the room -- is the foundation which we all need to have successful business, and that is the rule of law. And that's not negotiable," he said.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke met on Monday with top U.S. businessmen.
"They (U.S. businessmen) emphasised the need for greater predictability, stability, transparency and the rule of law," he said, adding that America's "high ethical standards" would lead U.S. companies to success in Russia over time.
SETBACKS
U.S firms have faced painful setbacks in Russia, including plans by ExxonMobil to export gas to China, Chevron's hurdles in expanding a pipeline from Kazakhstan and Alcoa's struggle with red tape in a Russian region.
"We want the (Russian) authorities to make amendments to the subsoil law," said Neil Duffin, head of ExxonMobil project development, referring to legislation which bars foreigners from investing in large resource deposits.
Vladimir Dmitriev, the head of Russia's state bank VEB, fired back with claims of discrimination against Russian firms.
"Today we heard a reproach aimed at the American administration voiced by Russian companies," he said. "They are clearly being discriminated against in the United States."
The businessmen placed hopes for lifting trade barriers on the revival of the Russia-U.S. inter-governmental commission.
Moscow and Washington held regular business dialogues in the 1990s through the so-called Gore-Chernomyrdin commission, but it was dissolved this decade as political relations between the two states chilled.
Russian steel and coal barons, which expanded aggressively in the United States before the crisis sapped their cashflow, complained about new tougher U.S. trade and business regulations.
Vladimir Lisin the main owner of steel major NLMK, said he had to fire 600 people and halve production at two U.S. plants because of new tougher certification rules for finished steel products from outside the United States.
"We think U.S. authorities must review and amend this legislation," he said.
Igor Zyuzin, owner of steel and coal firm Mechel, which owns U.S. Bluestone Coal, joined the volley of criticism.
"The new administration has announced substantial restrictions on activities of coal firms in the United States... This raises serious concerns from coal companies and the authorities of certain U.S. states," he said. (Reporting by Gleb Bryanski, Dmitry Sergeyev, Simon Shuster, Katya Golubkova and Alfred Kueppers, writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Elaine Hardcastle, + 7 495 775 12 42, dmitri.zhdannikov@reuters.com)